Art Life | Andrea Mai

ART LIFE UPDATE: MORE #STAYATHOME & PRINCE-INSPIRED ARTWORKS

Despite my intuitive feeling that my art show might not happen this year (I submitted a notice of cancellation to the venue), I decided to move forward in action for my overall plan anyway. I used the art show date as a deadline to push myself. And now I am getting closer to where I want to be in my work. I have developed new artwork prints and product designs. The world is in chaos, but I am peaceful inside. It doesn’t mean that I don’t care about what’s going on, but I see no point in worry or complaint. I take necessary precautions where needed. I accept that this pandemic may take longer than we hope for it to pass, might as well settle in for the long haul. People are upset that they have to stay inside, questioning how real it is, how valid are the threats to justify it. I try a little everyday to work towards my goals, because I believe in making lemonade when life hands you lemons.

One such goal is working on my online art shop, adding new products and coming up with the best ways to present and package my art. In the past, I was reluctant to invest in the production of my work. I saw how others were using drop-shipping to sell their work. But after much consideration, I do not see it as a viable option for me. Perhaps it works for others, (or maybe in the future). But it is not for me. My preferred approach is hands-on. I want to be in control of production. I want make it special.

After an experience where a photo lab failed to send out my order, they allegedly lost all my prints and told me that they would reprint it immediately and deliver it to me. I do not like the idea that there could be unauthorized prints of my work floating around out there. That is why for prints that are not produced in-house, I offer a Certificate of Authenticity. In another experience, I was attending a warehouse sale for blank t-shirts from a printing company. I saw amidst the piles of t-shirts, that some were printed. Were they prototype samples for a customer? I don’t know, but it made me question; who knows where your designs could end up without your knowledge? It begs the question, how well do you know your suppliers? Do you trust that they will destroy all unauthorized samples or not sell them without your permission? That is why I have decided to produce as much of my own work where reasonably possible.

Admittedly, the audience for my work is very small. While I considered the option of using drop- shipping services like Printify or Society 6, to produce my designs and artwork, it is not a business model that works for me. Custom printers want to make a high profit margin for their print-on demand services, but they cut every corner on the cost of materials, leaving me, as the artist very little opportunity to reasonably mark up the items for a profit. The product quality does not justify the cost, in my opinion. As an artist,, I would have to be selling large volumes for this model to be worthwhile. I found the finished products very expensive for what it is, and I would have to order sample products for approval. The start-up cost would be very costly, meanwhile I could have s[ent that money and invested in my own production supplies.

I have relaunched my two Prince prints. The prints were originally produced by a lab the silver-halide method, which I love, but have decided to move on with printing in-studio. I currently have two options, mat and frame, or mat only.

The metallic paper I use to print on, reflects a subtle golden light from it when viewed at certain angles. It creates a stunning effect when viewed in person.

I also have the Prince Artifacts in a greeting card version.

And I was suddenly struck with inspiration to create these two new Prince-inspired greeting card designs. They are what I call the “cosmic duo”, as they are titled Cosmic Day and Cosmic Night. (And yes, for those of you well-versed Prince fans, Cosmic Day was an unreleased song title by Prince.) It was inspired by the ceiling murals at Paisley Park. In the sitting room area for visitors, is a painted ceiling with piano keys and a view of the night sky. There is also a version of it in the conference room upstairs. The central hall is covered with painted clouds. I find this interesting, because that is exactly what I dreamed of having on my bedroom walls when I was a kid.

I have two other Prince-related pieces. I was able to source some unused vintage Prince vinyl. It has the original Paisley Park labelling. They did not come with any record cover art. I hate to vinyl go unloved. I thought the 7-inch singles looked cool mounted on over my circle prints. So I created these two prints, and mounted the vinyl over it.

I actually have another Prince-related item that I’m working on, that I’m very excited about. I will fill you in on it when it’s ready.

Image above: “Behind the scenes” by Andrea Mai.

ART LIFE UPDATE, SPIRITS REACT TO PRINCE AT MICHAEL’S – EVP March 8, 2020

I’ve ben busy since February, preparing for an art show in May. Though it might not happen, as this coronavirus pandemic has caused school closures and event cancellations. They say that it might last until June or longer. I am not surprised though. I have not felt optimistic about 2020. The end of 2019 saw riots in Hong Kong and Paris. The virus was slowly erupting in China, and has now it has reached all around the world. I had a feeling at the beginning of the year, that things could get cancelled. I intended to lay low this year. But the art show placement was assigned to me since last year. I procrastinated working on it. Then in January, I started making plans for it. I made some decisions to grow my art business. I invested in buying equipment and art materials. It’s been a real process, something that I had been avoiding for years. Up until tis point, I’d only been testing the waters to see if anyone would buy my art. Having the art show as a firm deadline to work from, gave me the push. Otherwise the hesitation about what to do could drag on. So even if this art show doesn’t happen, it’s all work that I had to do anyway.

The biggest decision I made, that will affect my art the most, is choosing to print my own work. I bought a photo printer. I had been sending my work to print at a professional lab. I love the results that the labs give, but it’s not flexible enough for my business, logistically speaking. The cost of shipping really ads up, plus the waiting time. All the prints listed on my shop are currently lab printed. They are printed using the silver halide method on a metallic finish paper. The process involves photo paper that reacts to light. There is no ink involved. It is really the best, and I will still offer it for large size prints. I have a found a metallic finish paper that I can use on my inkjet printer that offers very compelling results. They are not the same, but it is still just as beautiful. Silver halide prints are have a super shiny finish, they are more silver toned and look very 3D, whereas the inkjet metallic is also very shiny and glossy, it leans more on the golden side. There is a subtle golden glow that projects from the paper. Below are photos of silver halide on metallic versus inkjet on metallic. The photos hardly do it any justice, you really have to see it in person.

Creating art prints and products for people to buy has a real process involved. Every detail must be considered. Decisions must take place before things can get started, as they will affect the materials and equipment that I need to buy. For instance, choosing what sizes of the art prints to offer, only until this is firmly decided, that then I can consider what my packaging options are. And then comes the sourcing, and that is one of the most crucial but challenging steps. One must envision how they will package and present their artwork to the customer, and then find the appropriate materials. Have you ever heard the saying, that God only gives you what you can handle? In the past, I have found that if I did not have the packaging ready for my online store, the sales for larger orders would not come in. I used to think that I could just wait to get an order in and figure it outtlater. But those orders never came. Then I splurged on the packaging and the orders came in.

Last week, I went to Michael’s to get a hold of a white Sharpie marker. I recorded EVP while I was in there. I rarely ever get to go to Michael’s. I could honestly spend hours in there.

These clips turned out pretty good. I tested them on my laptop speakers and you could hear them audibly. But I still recommend headphones for a better listening experience. The clips are repeated on loop.

Here is someone saying, “Hi Prince”.

I think we must have ran into some of his fans, as this one said, “I adore you, Prince”.

This one asked, “When did you die?“. P said, “2016”.

Some one said, “Orange tree… Eat an orange”. I think there must have been an orange tree there on the spirit side.

Someone offered P a drink, “You wanna drink?”.

“Orange juice”.

Someone said, “Angels in here”.

“There’s an angel”.

I spent about 50 minutes there, browsing. I had already gotten what I came for, but I couldn’t stop looking. But it was getting late in the day. P said, “It’s getting late. Gotta go”. I felt him tugging at me to go.

But before I left, Michael Jackson’s song came on, Remember the Time. The spirits there knew it was going to come on the radio. They said, “Next is Michael Jackson”.

I only bought the Sharpie and went home.

I have a collection of art prints and greeting cards coming soon. I found a really wonderful inkjet cardstock to print on for cards. The print quality is amazing. I already have one card posted in the shop. It’s the card version for my Prince Artifacts print.

These recordings were recorded using my EVP Wrist Recorder 3 on March 8 2020.

Image above: “Ink and prints” by Andrea Mai.

THE SPIRIT SAID “GOD SPOKE TO ME” – EVP January 15, 2020

During the trip to Niagara Falls, we stayed at the Seneca Resort and Casino. Normally I would not choose to stay in a hotel that has a casino, but I was using loyalty points to pay for it, and it was a great deal. It turned out that they offered free buffet tickets to its hotel guests.

It was very noisy in the buffet a lunch time, but at the same time, I got some really loud and clear EVP. That’s the thing about EVP, it’s a bit tricky to predict how well an EVP will turn out, because just the right amount of noise will actually make the recordings better to hear. But too much will ruin it. I tested these clips on my laptop speakers, and many of these are excellent. They are repeated on loop.

In the elevator, right before the door opened, P said, “We go out”.

As I was getting food at the buffet, there was a man with a service dog with him. In my head, I kept hearing this joke, “Do dogs eat for free?”. You know, ’cause sometimes kids get to eat for free at these places. I wanted to say it out loud, because I thought it was funny, but I stayed quiet. It turns out that a spirit was saying it!

P also had his dog with him. someone commented, “That’s the doggie”. You can hear a bark in the background.

Wherever we go, there is always going to be spirits asking P about why he’s with me, and if he can talk to me. P will usually tell them about my psychic abilities, even though I chose not to engage in it much. I’m assuming someone was saying this to me, “Can you hear us”. As you can see in the above example with the dog joke, yes I can!

Here is someone saying, “Hungry”.

I think that because spirits are using their thoughts to speak, they tend to blurt out things that we would consider rude to say out loud. People were saying hi to P. This one said, “You’re tiny”. “Nice to meet you”.

Here is P saying, “Sit with me”, You can hear someone calling back, “Coming”.

Here is someone saying, “You want milk?”. “Sure”.

Someone commented, “Angels in there”.

I heard P ask them, “Why do you guys stay here?”. They said, “We don’t know”.

P told them, “Pray to God”.

Someone responded, “I’ll try it now”.

Then something cool must have happened over there. Someone said, “Now it’s raining”. “Look, Prince”. “Wow”. I wonder if the rain was purple…?

They aid, “Prince you were right”.

Someone said, “God spoke to me”.

It’s incredible. These spirits finally get to know God. And we got to witness it. What a blessing!

There are so many supposed mediums out there that will tell you that the spirits say the God doesn’t exist, or that God is just some “non-personal cosmic force in the universe”, or some similar type of ting. Then they offer all kinds of nonsense spiritual guidance. This goes to show you that we should not regard everything said by spirits equally. Either they lie, or they just don’t know about God. So be careful what you listen to.

God is just a prayer away.

These recordings were recorded using my EVP Wrist Recorder 3 on January 15, 202020.

Image above: “Pink Bar” by Andrea Mai

THEY MOVED THE CLOUDS FOR ME – EVP January 15, 2020

Our hotel was walking distance from Niagara Falls, so we walked to Prospect Point, the only spot where you can see both the American Falls and the Horseshoe Falls at the same time. It was cloudy, windy, and very cold. I recorded EVP as I took photos.

I got some good clips, but you can hear the wind and the water in the background. I tested the clips on my laptop speakers, they are audible, but some are better with headphones. The clips are repeated on loop.

As we walked along the river towards the falls, it was very cold, and I wondered if P was cold. I imagined for him, a black sateen bomber-style jacket with black rhinestone crystals encrusted on the back that formed his symbol. Though I’ve heard that one can give gifts to spirits by thought, I never really knew if it works. P said, “Andrea, a new coat“.

He then said, “I got it, thank you”.

It was very windy, P said, “Windy”.

Then he said, “Lost my hat”. Fortunately, after that I heard someone found his hat. It must have blown away.

There seemed to be talk about P’s new coat with with the spirits nearby. Someone asked him what the symbol was, probably referring to the symbol on the coat. He said, “Love sign”.

P said, “Nice and warm”.

Someone said, “Hey Prince”.

As I was taking photos, someone said, “Like this”, and another said, “That’s pretty”.

The sun was starting to come out and there was a small strip of light appearing halfway along the horizon. It was beautiful, but I said that I wished the rest of the clouds would move so that the light could fill up the horizon. As we waite for someone to return from the washroom, I noticed that the clouds had moved and the whole horizon was beaming with light!

I heard them on the EVP, saying, “Move it way”.

It was stunning, I knew someone was helping us with the weather. After we left the park, the entire sky cleared up and it was bright and sunny. I felt really blessed to see such beauty.

These recordings were recorded using my EVP Wrist Recorder 3 on January 15, 2020.

Image above:“View of Niagara Falls” by Andrea Mai.

SPIRITS WATCH ME DO A HANDBAG ALTERATION – EVP December 20, 2019

Now that it’s winter, we stay home a lot more and I spend time doing activities like knitting, sewing, or playing on my guitar. One night I watched a video of a leatherworker doing alterations on a handbag for his customer. It got me inspired. I had a bag I wanted to do an alteration on. I was so excited that as soon as I woke up the next morning, I starting taking apart the lining on my Michael Kors “Jet Set” tote bag. I bought this bag years ago when it was really trendy at the time, hoping that it would be a bag I’d use a lot. But instead, it sat in my closet most of the time, because I found the bag too heavy. There is a padded pocket divider in the bag lining meant for carrying laptops. It was taking up too much space in the bag. Otherwise, it was a great bag. I decided to rip out the laptop pocket and sew it back up.

I was curious to hear what was happening on the other side with P while I’m working on stuff like this. I know he is always with me, but what is he up to? I recorded EVP to find out.

Some of these clips are harder to hear because there is the noise from the sewing machine in the background. I tested it on my laptop speakers and I can still hear it, but I recommend headphones for a better listening experience.

I was surprised to hear P say, “Take a picture”. Was he snapping a pic of me working, or something else? It still boggles my mind to know that they have technology over there. But then again, my dreams are filled with technology. I remember dreams where I am using a camera to take photographs. Why would it be different over there?

I could hear that there were others with him. He told them, “We’re sewing”.

He explained to them, “Took the lining out”.

Someone there offered to make P a smoothie. P said he wanted raspberry flavour. They made him one and said, “Raspberry”.

They seem to be able to do all kinds of activities over there, and it seems to come about quickly, which leads me to think that things are done through thought and imagination.

I decided to rip out the original Michael Kors bag charm on the handle and replace it with this Prince Love Symbol charm that I got by mail order from Paisley Park.

After taking out the lining, I can happily say that I am getting much better use out of the bag, as the interior is more spacious without the divider. I can throw everything in quickly and go.

These recordings were recorded using my EVP Wrist Recorder 3 on December 20, 2019.

Image above: “My sewing machine” by Andrea Mai.

IT SOUNDED LIKE A TALKING SWAN – EVP September 29, 2019

On the morning of the last day in Reykjavik, my mother and I decided to take a walk in the nearby area around the hotel, have lunch, and then head to the airport with the group. We walked to the city hall, and ran into two people from our group. Somehow during the walk, I lost track of my mother, as I was busy taking photos. She was busy in conversation with the other people. Behind the city hall, there is a small lake with ducks and swans. There were walking paths along each side of thehe lake. I couldn’t see her, so I kept walking along the lake towards city hall.

There was still plenty of time, so I was not worried. I recorded EVP on my walk back to the hotel. I tested these clips on my laptop speakers The sound quality is quite good, but I would recommend headphones for a better listening experience. The clips are repeated on loop.

I walking along the lake, and someone said, “Welcome to Iceland“. It sounds like the swans were talking, but as I have explained in past posts, voices from the other side can take on the quality of sounds from our reality, as though it is being filtered through.

I heard P in conversation with someone, and he mentioned about knowing that I am his twin soul, because God showed him. This person replied that God was, “Angry with me”. And P replied, “God is love”.

She asked, “How do you know”. P said, “I pray to God”.

P explained to her about praying to God. He said, “You try to pray to God“.

She asked, “What do you do?”

P told her an example, “Dear God, can you help me”.

Presumably, something must have happened after she prayed, but it is not clear what exactly. I have heard spirits comment that they see a light glowing from people when they pray. Perhaps in spirit, it is easier to sense God in prayer, as they seem to notice something incredible after they pray. In this clip, someone said to her “God loves you”. And she said, “Thank you so much”.

I had walked to this nearby church to photograph it from the outside. Standing outside its door, someone said, “Come have a seat”. Someone replied, “Thank you”.

Spirits were noticing P, and someone said, “It’s him, look”.

P said to me, “We gotta go, hotel”.

Someone said, “Did you met him”. And another said, “That is Prince”.

Prince called out, “Angel” to ask about where my mother was.

I returned to the hotel, but my mother had not arrived yet. I waited in the lobby. I went outside to redo a quick photo of a scene that I had accidentally deleted from my camera, and when I came back, she was there.

I have heard so many times about spirits finally surrounding their resistance to God. I can no longer have any doubts about God’s existence. I know that my prayers get heard and answered. It is the most wonderful feeling to know God’s love.

May God bless you.

These recordings were recorded using my EVP Wrist Recorder 3 on September 29, 2019.

Image above: “Swans” by Andrea Mai.

SPIRITS REACT TO PRINCE ON THE AIRPLANE – EVP September 29, 2019

On my previous trips, I have observed through EVP, that spirits do travel by airplane. Spirits are everywhere, and airports are no exception. The spirit world exists as a layer overlaying our reality. There are occurrences where the spirit world bleeds through into ours. That is when we get to see ghostly phenomenon, but this is just a small fraction of what is going on over thee on the other side. Spirits are just like us, they desire to travel and see new places, perhaps places they never got to visit when they were “alive”.

On the way back from Iceland, I recorded EVP while boarding the airplane. I was assigned a sear in the first row, right beside the door.

I got some very clear and loud EVP. I wasn’t expecting to, as usually very noisy places can be a hinderance to getting good recordings. I have tested these clips on my laptop speakers, and they are very audible. But if you want to hear even better, use headphones. The clips are repeated on loop.

While we were lining up at the gates, I guess they saw P, you can hear someone shouting, “It is Prince”. And someone must have asked who was with me. P replied, “Andrea’s mom“. Both are speaking simultaneously in the clip.

Someone said, “Do you like Prince music. Prince right there”.

Because I am sitting in the first row, I could not put on backpack under the seat in front of me, so I had to put it in the overhead bin. P said, “Put away“.

Here is a really cute sounding clip, I heard someone say, “Uhh, can you pass the phone? Thank you”.

Someone said, “Huh, huh, you say hi to Prince“.

Someone said, “Hi, he’s at the door”. We were sitting next to the airplane’s door in first row.

Someone said, “Prince sitting with her”.

Someone asked, “Prince, can I talk with you”. I didn’t catch what he wanted to talk about after that.

Someone asked P, “Where is your home?”.

From what I have observed, we have angels that look after us. They travel with us. On the plane, someone noticed them and said, “Wow, angels”. I assume that by their reaction, that they don’t see the all the time.I pray every night for protection, and I believe that this is the result of it. That is why I tell people that they should pray. We cannot see what is going on in the spirit world, but we can have the protection of God to defend us from evil.

By my observation, the spirit world seems to be a lot more crowded than ours. I could be walking along an empty street all by myself, but there is actually tons of spirits wandering around. I wonder if it is possibly because so many people in our modern age, don’t believe in God, and when they pass over, they remain here instead of going to be with God in heaven. P often talks to these lost souls who have no where to go, and he tells them about God and prayer. They often refuse to pray because they are afraid. But he encourages them to pray, and they do. They come back telling P that he was right about having to pray and find God.

I feel very sad for these “homeless” souls. They seem to sleep anywhere that they can find as shelter, such as empty cars and shopping malls. I pray that people come to know God before leaving this earthly plane. I feel like so man people are missing out on what it’s like to know that there is something so wonderful, and greater than what we know.

May God bless you all out there.

These recordings were recorded using my EVP Wrist Recorder 3 on September 29, 2019.

Image above: “Passport” by Andrea Mai.

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